Kyrgyzstan

Property for sale in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is a rugged Central Asian country that lies along the Silk Road, the ancient caravan route between China and the Mediterranean.

It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.

Before independence, Bishkek was a Russian city, with most of its Russian ethnic population. Currently, this ethnic group represents about 20% of the city's population, which reflects a great emigration in the years following independence. With concerns mainly of economic uncertainty, rather than ethnic unrest, many Russians with family or professional ties to other post-Soviet republics emigrated from Kyrgyzstan.

This migration has led to a large amount of property for sale in Kyrgyzstan and on the capital market, with a corresponding decline in property prices. At present, most of the aspiring Russian emigrants with prospects in other countries have already left, and those who remain have to face more favourable economic prospects. The days of large external migrations have ended, thus removing the severe supply shocks that derive from the excess of property for sale in Kyrgyzstan caused by the exit.

However, migration to capital, as is common in developing countries where business opportunities are less available in smaller cities, adds to a steadily increasing demand for housing in Bishkek.

With the onset of economic growth and an increasing number of families earning income for better quality housing than those of the Soviet era, the "euroremont" process is more common. This process includes properties for sale in Kyrgyzstan with Western or South Korean appliances and equipment, internal water heaters, plastic frame windows that seal better than Soviet-era wooden frames and more uniform flooring than traditional parquet or heavily panelled flooring. Often these renovated and improved apartments exist in condominiums from the Soviet era next to non-upgraded units.